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Bruno Giacomelli | |
|---|---|
 Giacomelli in 1982 | |
| Born | (1952-09-10)10 September 1952 (age 73) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Italian |
| Active years | 1977–1983,1990 |
| Teams | McLaren,Alfa Romeo,Toleman,Life |
| Entries | 82 (69 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Careerpoints | 14 |
| Pole positions | 1 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1977 Italian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1990 Spanish Grand Prix |
| World Sportscar Championship career | |
| Years active | 1985–1990 |
| Teams | Porsche,Lancia,RLR,Spice |
| Starts | 22 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1988–1990 |
| Teams | Porsche,RLR |
| Best finish | 9th(1988) |
| Class wins | 0 |
Bruno Giacomelli (Italian pronunciation:[ˈbrunodʒakoˈmɛlli]; born 10 September 1952) is an Italian formerracing driver, who competed inFormula One between1977 and1990.[a]
Giacomelli won one of the two1976British Formula 3 Championships and the1978Formula Two championship. From1977 to1983, Giacomelli participated in 82Formula One Grands Prix forMcLaren,Alfa Romeo andToleman, debuting at the1977 Italian Grand Prix. He achieved one podium and scored a total of 14 championship points. He returned to Formula One in1990 withLife, infamously failing to qualify in each of his 12 attempts driving theF190, prior to the team's withdrawal after theSpanish Grand Prix.
Giacomelli began his career in Formula Italia, which he won in 1975. In 1976, he graduated toFormula Three where he competed withMarch and finished runner up in his first season, toRupert Keegan,[1] in theB.A.R.C Championship and won theB.R.D.C. title. He also led from start to finish in a March-Toyota in the 1976Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race. His average speed was 74.84 miles per hour.[2]
Giacomelli moved intoFormula Two in 1977, working in close association withRobin Herd and the March factory.[1] He retired from the Formula TwoPau Grand Prix in May 1977, after his car made contact with one driven byJacques Laffite. However, he managed to score three F2 wins in 1977[1] (atVallelunga,Mugello andDonington Park) and finished fifth in thechampionship. He also made hisFormula One World Championship debut in 1977 in a third worksMcLarenM23-Cosworth at the1977 Italian Grand Prix atMonza, retiring with an engine problem which caused him to spin off.[1]
Giacomelli dominated thefollowing F2 season. Apart from a third-place finish in theMugello Grand Prix in May 1978[3] and a second-place inVallelunga, Giacomelli won eight of the twelve races[1] and won the title, beating the runner upMarc Surer by 29 points.[4] Giacomelli became the first Italian to win theEuropean Formula Two Championship.[1]
After his sole F1 race in1977, Giacomelli entered five races in1978 for McLaren, when his Formula Two commitments allowed. He achieved his best finish, of seventh place, in the1978 British Grand Prix. After winning the European F2 title, he switched toAlfa Romeo for their return to building F1 cars in1979. Alfa only entered their177 and179 cars in a handful of events that year, and Giacomelli could only achieve a best of 17th place in the1979 French Grand Prix.
However, in thefollowing year, the team looked more promising. Giacomelli earned a surprise 6th place qualifying position forAlfa Romeo atBrands Hatch for the1980 British Grand Prix.[5] Giacomelli posted a third-place qualifying time for the1980 Italian Grand Prix atImola. Three of his six mechanics sustained injuries on the Friday before the race, when their helicopter crashed en route to the track.[6] He won the pole position for the1980 United States Grand Prix atWatkins Glen, New York in his Alfa Romeo. Giacomelli improved on his opening day time by 1.25 seconds, with a time of 1 minute 33.29 seconds over the 3.37-mile track.[7] However, despite these flashes of speed Giacomelli only managed to finish three of the season's fourteen races due to crashes or mechanical breakdowns; although two of his finishes were fifth places at the season-opening1980 Argentine Grand Prix and the1980 German Grand Prix, thus netting him four points and placing him 16th in the Drivers' Championship.
In1981, the car was somewhat more reliable, with Giacomelli being a classified finisher in eight of the season's 15 races - however he struggled to achieve good results until the end of the year, with a fourth and a third in the season-endingCanadian andCaesars Palace Grands Prix respectively - the latter was Giacomelli's only podium finish in F1, and he achieved his best-ever championship finish by ending up 15th in the drivers' standings.
For1982, Alfa introduced their newAlfa Romeo 182 to replace the ageing 179; however, the new chassis proved to be unreliable in the first half of the season. In the second half, it was reliable enough to allow Giacomelli to finish all but two of the races; however, the year only yielded one points finish for him, with a fifth inGermany. Giacomelli was eliminated at the start of the1982 Belgian Grand Prix atZolder when his Alfa Romeo collided with the twoATS cars ofEliseo Salazar andManfred Winkelhock.[8] Alfa recruitedMauro Baldi to partnerAndrea de Cesaris for the1983 Formula One season and Giacomelli joinedToleman. Giacomelli was outperformed by his teammateDerek Warwick, though he did manage to pick up a final F1 point at the1983 European Grand Prix atBrands Hatch.
Giacomelli was the test driver for theLeyton House March team in 1988 and 1989, as well as in 1990 in itsLeyton House incarnation. He was offered a test driver position withMcLaren for 1990 but turned it down.
In 1990, Giacomelli returned to F1 with theLife outfit, taking over fromGary Brabham (who left the team two races into the season). The car, saddled with an ineffectual and fragile W12 engine, struggled to get within 20 seconds of the pole time at many circuits, and Giacomelli failed to even get out of pre-qualifying at any of the 12 Grands Prix he contested with the team. At the Portuguese Grand Prix the team reverted to a more conventional Judd V8 engine, but the car had not been adapted for the new engine and the team were unable to properly fit the engine cover,[9] leading to them pulling out of the event without completing a single lap. When Giacomelli was able to drive the Judd-powered car in Spain, he found himself 18 seconds off the pace despite the new engine. With money in short supply and few hopes of improving their desperately noncompetitive package, the team folded before the final two races of the season, ending Giacomelli's F1 career.
He made 11 starts inCART in 1984 and 1985, 10 of which were forPatrick Racing. His best finish was a 5th place on theMeadowlands street course in 1985. He attempted but failed to qualify for the1984 Indianapolis 500.
 |
‡ Not eligible for Championship points.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | AFMP Euroracing | March 772 | Hart | SIL Ret | THR Ret | HOC Ret | NÜR 6 | 4th | 32 | |||||||||
| March Engineering | March 772P | BMW | VLL 1 | PAU Ret | MUG 1 | ROU Ret | NOG 4 | PER 7 | MIS 10 | EST 14 | ||||||||
| March 782 | DON 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1978 | Polifac BMW Junior Team | March 782 | BMW | THR 1 | HOC 1 | NÜR Ret | PAU 1 | MUG 3 | VLL 2 | ROU 1 | DON Ret | NOG 1 | PER 1 | MIS 1 | HOC 1 | 1st | 78 | |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Osella Squadra Corse | BMW M1 | ZOL Ret | MON Ret | DIJ 10 | SIL Ret | HOC 8 | ÖST 9 | ZAN | MNZ Ret | 19th | 6 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | No. | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pos. | Pts | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Theodore Racing | 44 | Theodore T83 | CosworthDFXV8t | LBH 27 | PHX DNS | 32nd | 5 | [10] | ||||||||||||||
| Theodore T84 | INDY DNQ | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | MCH | ROA | POC | MDO | SAN | MCH | PHX | |||||||||||
| Patrick Racing | 40 | March 84C | LAG 8 | CPL | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1985 | Patrick Racing | 20 | March 85C | CosworthDFXV8t | LBH 18 | INDY | MIL | POR 10 | MEA 5 | CLE 10 | MCH | ROA 22 | POC | MDO 6 | SAN 16 | MCH | LAG 6 | PHX | MIA 14 | 19th | 32 | [11] | |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Porsche Kremer Racing | C1 | Porsche 956B | MUG | MNZ 8 | SIL | LMS | HOC | MOS | SPA | BRH | FUJ | SHA | NC | 0‡ | |
| 1986 | Sponsor Guest Team | C1 | Lancia LC2 | MNZ | SIL | LMS | NOR Ret | BRH Ret | JER | NÜR | 44th | 10 | ||||
| Porsche Kremer Racing | Porsche 962C | SPA 12 | FUJ 4 | |||||||||||||
| 1987 | Britten – Lloyd Racing | C1 | Porsche 962C GTi | JAR | JER | MNZ Ret | SIL | LMS | NC | 0 | ||||||
| Mussato Action Car | Lancia LC2 | NOR DSQ | BRH | NÜR | SPA | FUJ | ||||||||||
| 1988 | Porsche Kremer Racing | C1 | Porsche 962C | JER | JAR | MNZ 6 | SIL | 37th | 20 | |||||||
| Porsche 962-CK6 | LMS 9 | BRN | BRH | NÜR 10 | SPA | FUJ 16 | SAN | |||||||||
| 1989 | Porsche Kremer Racing | C1 | Porsche 962-CK6 | SUZ Ret | DIJ 18 | JAR | NC | 0 | ||||||||
| Mussato Action Car | Lancia LC2 | BRH Ret | NÜR NC | DON Ret | SPA DSQ | MEX Ret | ||||||||||
| 1990 | Spice Engineering | C | Spice SE90C | SUZ Ret | SIL 3 | SPA | DIJ | NÜR | DON 5 | CGV | MEX | 17th | 6 | |||
| Team Lee-Davey | Porsche 962C | MNZ DSQ | ||||||||||||||
‡ Not eligible for Championship points
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 |  KenwoodKremer Racing |  Kunimitsu TakahashiHideki Okada | Porsche 962CK6 | C1 | 370 | 9th | 9th |
| 1989 | PorscheKremer Racing | Kunimitsu TakahashiGiovanni Lavaggi | Porsche 962C | C1 | 303 | DNF | DNF |
| 1990 |  Richard Lloyd Racing | John Watson Allen Berg | Porsche 962C | C1 | 335 | 11th | 11th |
Source:[12] | |||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Pro Team Italia | Maserati Biturbo | MNZ 17 | JAR DNS | DIJ Ret | NÜR Ret | SPA | BRN 24 | SIL | BAT | CLD | WEL | FUJ | 31st | 43 |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Monaco Formula Three Race Winner 1976 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by None | British Formula 3 Championship BRDC Series Champion 1976 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | European Formula Two Champion 1978 | Succeeded by |
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
